Call Me Now:
0421 526 433
Physiotherapy & Pilates
Serving The Local Community Since 2001
Newsletters & Updates
This Term's Main Article
Stress your body to destress your mind with contrast therapy
You might recall—indeed, you might have been enjoying—my suggestion of cold showers in a recent newsletter. This term’s subject is a progression of the concept, and is based on podcast #154 in a great series called High Performance Longevity with Nick Urban.
If you are interested in the subject, you can go to mindbodypeak.com/154 or find the podcast at https://youtube/EILm4hxJyWM?si=HvMg9DjUY4T4Jsak .
In #154, Nick Urban talks to Dr Marc Cohen on ‘Contrast Therapy’. Dr Marc Cohen is an interesting guy; he is a medical doctor, a professor, an entrepreneur, a poet, a wellness advocate, and has written a number of books and scientific papers. One of his areas of interest is what he terms ‘Ancient Future’ medicine, which takes lessons from our ancestral forebears and reapplies them to our modern lives. Ancient Future medicine includes bathing, breathing, herbs, fermentation, honey and lifestyle practices, all of which have a part to play to improve our immunity, decrease our anxiety and improve our overall sense of wellness.
Dr Cohen advocates that you ‘stress your body to destress your mind’ in a controlled environment to promote better handling of stress and to increase your personal resistance. A key suggestion he makes to achieve this is through the contrast between hot and cold. If you’re game to try this, follow this sequence:
-
Prepare: First, rinse in the shower.
-
Heat: You could use a sauna, a steam room, a hot pool or a bath. Stay in the hot environment until you start to feel uncomfortable. Over time, you will discover that your tolerance increases, both in terms of temperature and duration.
-
Cold: This could be a cold shower, a cold pool or even just going outside into the cold air. The aim here is to let your body cool down.
-
Rest: For five to ten minutes, lie down and completely relax to allow your body’s physiology to return to normal. This could be a good time to meditate if you want to double the benefits!
-
Repeat. Ideally, follow this sequence for three rounds in total, although you might need to build up to this.
Dr Cohen stresses the importance of easing into contrast therapy, not pushing too hard and always ending with a rest phase. If you have any existing medical issues, especially heart complaints, it is a good idea to consult with your doctor before embarking on a program like this.
Furthermore, Dr Cohen is not a big fan of chlorinated water, as this strips the natural oils from our bodies. He believes it is important to install a water filter at home, not just for the water we drink but also for the water in which we bathe. A quick fix for those without water filters is to fill the bath with hot water, leave it for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the chlorine to evaporate and to put on the extraction fan to clear the air.
Contrast therapy is arguably best achieved at natural mineral springs, of which there are several options close to Melbourne. Personally, I can’t think of many ways to spend a few hours in the company of people I care about that are more enjoyable, relaxing and sociable.
Latest Newsletter
This Term's Healthy Habits Exercise
Upper back and neck position awareness
I have been observing through my clinical practice that I am seeing an increasing number of people with stiffness in their upper backs. This is especially prevalent in younger and younger people. I believe this is directly due to the poor position we adopt when on our phones. As such, my healthy habit is for us all to improve our awareness of our posture when we are on the phone.
I recognise that is is virtually impossible to maintain a good posture while we are on our portable devices. If you recognise how frequently and for how long you are on your phone or tablet, it is little wonder that your upper back and neck will start to stiffen into a hunched position.
Of course, Pilates is an excellent way to maintain our full range of movement through all parts of our body and, indeed, to improve out posture. Equally, physio is a great way to mobilise and loosen up stiff joints and to relieve pain. But how much better would it be if we could prevent this stiffness from happening in the first place?
To mitigate upper back and neck stiffness, I’d first advocate that we minimise our phone time, especially if your find yourself endlessly scrolling: easier said than done, I know, but increasing your awareness of the time you spend is the first step to changing the behaviour.
Try walking and talking instead of texting so much. Endeavour to avoid drafting long emails on your phone: save these for the computer where it is possible to sit or stand with a much straighter back. Similarly, save reading long articles online for the computer, or get your daily does of news from such old-fashioned sources like the TV or a newspaper.
In our accelerating world of instant communications, it is easy to kid ourselves of the benefits of instant real-time communication. But if we can put our screens down for a while to communicate verbally or—dare I say, in person—we will probably discover that it is a more rewarding experience that benefits both our bodies and our minds.
